• Published 15th Jun 2016
  • 972 Views, 15 Comments

Visitors from an Alternate Depths - Gunther the Green



While the Strange Stallion stumbles his way through one iteration of Equestria, what if in another place and another time, it was one of his friends that arrived?

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The Delinquent

Billy the young goat didn't want a lot in life. Just some food, something resembling a roof, and somepony to say 'I love you' everyday. However, being a homeless orphan made two of those three things impossible. Well mostly impossible. He had been staying in a mining factory for those cold nights during the off hours. He liked to stay near the still warm equipment.

This night, though, would change his entire life in just under an hour.

Billy was jolted awake by the clanging of metal on the concrete floor and somepony shushing the one who caused it. "Oh knock it off," the shushed one said loudly, "This place is empty. Ain't nothing gonna hear us." The one speaking had a deep voice and a bit of an accent.

"That does not mean we won't be heard through the walls," said a more hushed voice. It was more refined and feminine. Billy sneaked around the equipment towards the voices. He peaked around a corner and spotted two unicorn ponies close to the miners most recent dig. Several shovels and picks were held in magical grips, giving light to the ponies. One was a large grey stallion with a white mane and the smaller pony was an equally grey mare but with a blonde mane. The light only revealed their faces so Billy couldn't see their cutie marks.

"Don't back sass me," the larger pony growled. The two of them went down into the tunnel. Billy went up against the wall and listened. It was too risky to try and follow them in. It was too narrow to find a hiding place.

"Is it here?" he heard the feminine one say. He wondered what the shady ponies could possibly be looking for.

"I'm not sure but the seer said it was somewhere in this area and this is the only mining company in a thousand miles," he heard an answer. Billy wondered what 'it' was. "Get to shoveling, we got a lot of dirt to dig."

He heard the tell tale signs of picks and shovels hitting dirt and stone. He briefly wondered if he should run and get Officer Maloney but a sudden loud 'tink' cut off his thoughts. "That was fast," commented the female voice. There was a shuffling of dirt. "Is this it?" she asked.

"Yes," the deep voice said that made it sound like he was smiling. "Yes! Finally we have it!" the voice cheered, "Now Equestria will have it's true ruler." Billy's eyes widened. Apparently he had stumbled across a plot to overthrow the throne.

"Fantastic, now let's get out of this dusty hole. I could use a hot bath," said the feminine voice. He heard hooves echoing towards him. He didn't have a lot of time.

Billy quickly spotted a loose cord and dragged it across the entrance, tying it around a pipe. He ran back to the other side and grabbed the cord with his teeth. He let it lay limp as the hoof steps came closer. "What you need is a cold shower," the deeper voice started as they exited the tunnel. Before he could continue, Billy pulled the cord tight. The stallion tripped over the raised cord, hitting his head. A brown bag that was held in his magical grip dropped to the ground with another 'tink'. Billy took that as a sign and grabbed the bag as he ran by the ponies. "The pearl!" the stallion shouted. "Get that brat," he commanded the other mare. Billy didn't need to look back to know he was being followed.

"Give that back you little twat!" the mare yelled at him. He quickly exited the building and ran around, trying to find somepony to assist him. He would have yelled for help but that would make him drop the bag. Eventually he ran underneath a large object standing on four pillars. "Nowhere to run, little goat," she said as she tried to crawl underneath the object like him.

Without warning, one of the pillars rose up and appeared to have claws on the bottom. It reached down and grabbed the mare by her barrel. "What do you think you're doing underneath me?" said a male voice, slightly lighter than the stallion from before. The mare's horn flared in fright and revealed what the object was. Billy's mouth hung agape as he stared at the largest gryphon he'd ever seen. It had the top half of an eagle and the bottom half of a tiger. It looked as tall as a bipedal minotaur while still on all fours. Maybe even taller. "Well?" he said after she didn't answer.

"I-I was just trying to get back what that kid stole," she answered in fear.

"She's lying!" Billy stepped in and said. "She stole this from the miners and plans to overthrow the government with it."

"Who are you going to believe? Me or that child?" she asked, slightly confident that she would win the arguement.

"How about I say neither of you and give you both to the police," the gryphon answered. His tail wrapped around Billy and placed him on his back. The mare visibly paled and charged a spell but another claw came around and snuffed out the magic making the room area dark again. In the utter darkness Billy heard, "Wrong answer." That was followed by a scream and he felt the gryphon shift as he did something to the mare that muffled her. When his eyes finally adjusted, he spotted the mare with her head buried in the dirt, visibly flailing.

The gryphon then walked calmly towards the center of town. Billy laid flat against he gryphon's back as they passed the mining factory. "Hey, grey stallion," the gryphon called. Billy froze, trying hard to will himself into invisibility. "You friends with that old grey mare?" he asked but didn't give him any time to answer. "You know what? Nevermind, I give her maybe 3 minutes before she suffocates back there. You better go help her, stranger or not." With that he continued on his way, ignoring the growl the stallion made as he ran off in the indicated direction.

Billy didn't risk a glance until they were underneath the lamp posts of the town. The light easily making his white fur visible to anypony looking against the gryphon's orange half. He looked back to where the factory was and sighed in relief when he didn't spot either of the grey ponies. "Alright kid. End of the line," the gryphon suddenly said. The tail once again wrapped around his middle and gently set him on the ground.

The goat child looked up at the gryphon while setting the bag down. "Thanks a lot mister," he said.

The abnormally sized half bird shrugged his shoulders. "Whatever," he said uncaring. He turned around and walked away into the night.

Billy picked up the bag and ran towards the police building. He rapidly knocked on the door, "Officer Maloney! Mister Barricade!" He waited for somepony to answer his call and was rewarded by the door opening. However, the one who answered the door was the grey stallion he had met before. Billy was barely able to give a shriek of terror as he and the bag were dragged into the building. There was only one creature who heard that shriek and he narrowed his eyes at the building.

Inside the building Billy was thrown against the wall, still clutching onto the bag that was trying to be wretched out of his hooves. "Give me the pearl, you dimwitted goat!" the dug up mare said. Her mane was a mess and she was very mad. But Billy just held on even tighter. On the other side of the room was the grey stallion, securing the bonds on two other ponies. One was Barricade, who was a dark brown earth pony with a bright red mane. His cutie mark was a wall of sandbags. The other was Maloney, who was a blue pegasus with a black mane. His cutie mark was of a bird spreading it's wings out. The lights inside the building finally let Billy see the two shady ponies cutie mark. The stallion's mark was of a red book. The mare's was of a flowing yellow mane.

"You get it yet?" the stallion asked.

"Ugh, this kid just won't give up. Help me out here. Break his leg or something," the mare said, frightening the child.

The stallion gave an irritated sigh and began to turn. However, before he could fully face her, a familiar claw burst through the wall and grabbed him by the neck. He had no time to react as he was dragged outside. The mare stopped her attempt at the bag and called "Daddy!" That was all the distraction Billy needed. He clenched his teeth tightly on the bag and made a break for the back door. "Get back here!" the mare called again. He made it just outside the door when the mare dived at him and grabbed his back leg. "Gotcha!" Out in the backyard was a few trees and old rusted parts that nopony bothered to clean up.

His chin hit the ground and the bag bounced away. At that moment, the stallion bounced behind the building close to where they were, he was ruffed up. He stared at them briefly but kept his focus on his opponent, "Forget about him! Help me deal with this gryphon!" He used magic to catch the boulder that was thrown at him but the gryphon ran up and literally punched his way through the rock and decked him in the face. The impact threw him backwards, bouncing once before crashing into a building.

The mare let go of Billy and ran over to the stallion, helping him up. During that time, the gryphon put himself inbetween Billy and the shady ponies. His glare was frightening. The young goat took that time to grab the bag and run back inside. The two ponies gave each other a look and silently nodded. The mare ran forward and jumped up, a lead pipe gripped in her magic. Behind her the stallion remained still but used magic to float a large steel cog underneath her. She stood on it, speeding towards the gryphon. The opponent braced himself, expecting her to continue on her course. However, at the last second, a second cog appeared and she jumped onto it. She jumped off that swung the heavy pipe downwards towards the gryphon. He quickly jumped out of the way and spun in mid air, his wings spread out wide. The extended appendage smacked the mare into the ground. As soon as he was on the ground again, he made a leap at the mare, fist brought back, but she vanished before it connected where she was.

He looked back towards where the stallion was and saw the mare was leaning up against him, clearly hurt. The stallion glared at the bigger creature but immediately became panicked as Barricade and Officer Maloney ran out of the building. Billy had untied the two keepers of the peace. "Stop right there! You're under arrest for assault and kidnapping. Stand down or we will be forced to take you down," Barricade called to them. The grey stallion sneered and lit his horn again. Before anypony could move, the both of them vanished.

The gryphon looked around briefly, "They've fled town." How he was able to tell that, none of the smaller beings knew.

Maloney walked up to the gryphon, "Thank you for your assistance sir." He just grunted in response and walked away from them. "Not a talkative fellow, is he?" Maloney commented to his partner. "Now Billy, I'd like to ask you-" but his question cut short when he noticed that the goat child disappeared along with the bag.


"Mister! Mister, wait up!" Billy called, slightly out of breath. The bag tied with a string around his neck swung wildly. He ran towards the large creature whose long strides made catching up difficult.

The gryphon glanced back at him, "Why are you following me? I already rescued you twice from those crooks. Let the cops deal with whatever your problem is."

"I can't. I just know those ponies will be back for this," he said, pointing to the bag. "They've already been able to take out Barricade and Officer Maloney. So you gotta help us!" he pleaded.

"The answer is no. I'm not sticking around this dump of a town to babysit you sad sacks," he insulted, turning his attention back to the path he was on.

Billy frowned at the insult to his home, "But you have to! You're the only one strong enough. If-if they get this, then the Princess's will be in danger!"

"Like I care," he continued with his attitude.

The small goat's eyes hardened in determination, "Then-then if you won't stay, I'll go with you."

"Absolutely not. I'm not taking care of some brat with a hero complex, I deal with enough of those already," he said as he kept walking.

Billy suddenly sprang up and wrapped himself around the gryphons back leg, "Please! I have to find somepony who can better protect this thing. I can't do it alone."

He tried to shake the goat off him, "Let go of me! I don't care about your stupid problem. I only beat the snot out of those two because they irritated me. I'm not helping you."

"Please," he sniffed, beginning to cry. "I'm so scared."

The gryphon groaned in irritation as he stopped and pinched his beak, "Ugh, alright! Alright, you can come with me. But you had better do exactly as I say, or the deals off."

The young goat let go of his leg and smiled up at, giving a nod. The gryphon continued down his path, going outside of the town. Billy followed close behind with his own quick little steps. He was surprised when the tail wrapped around his middle again and placed him on the tiger-like back of his new friend. "So what's your name mister?" Billy finally asked.

"Name's Jordan B. Crusher, I'm currently on vacation," the now named Jordan stated.

Billy tilted his head at the odd name, "You crush bees?"

Jordan rolled his eyes, "Just call me Jordan. What about you? What's your name?"

"My name's Billy," he answered.

Jordan looked back at him with a raised eyebrow, "So you're... Billy the Kid?"

"Ya?" he said, unsure why that was significant.

He looked back forward with his head low and a glare on his face, "This place is nuts."

Billy wasn't sure why he said that but he was glad to have a new friend. However, he was still worried about those ponies and what they wanted to use this item for.


The two gray ponies teleported into a dark room and immediately collapsed onto the ground, hurt and tired. "You alright?" the stallion said. The mare didn't respond verbally but did give a nod.

"You've returned," said a new voice. The two ponies immediately stiffened and glanced uneasily towards the darkness. Two glowing red eyes peered back at them. "And it seems you've failed your mission. How tragic," the voice continued. Darker shadows crept up to the two ponies.

They shivered in fear at the sight. "Wait, it wasn't our fault. This-this giant gryphon came out of nowhere and just pounded us," the mare pleaded.

"Oh?" the voice said intrigued. "Show me." The shadows crept over the stallions fur and reached into his eyes, covering them in darkness. He screamed in pain as the shadows extracted information much to the mare's distress. "Interesting. I will have to keep an eye on this being. For now, you two will recover. Expect another visit from me soon, my servants." With that the shadows receded and the eyes disappeared. The two ponies huddled together, vowing revenge against the gryphon and goat that did this to them. They would get that pearl back and Equestria would fall.

Author's Note:

The Delinquent would be an action/adventure story, following the adventure of Jordan and Billy as they transverse Equestria to find out more about this 'pearl' and how to deal with it. It would be a problem a chapter type of story with Billy's kind nature and hero complex conflict with Jordan's dismissive and sarcastic attitude. Personally, if I actually made this story, I think my favorite bit would be Jordan's banter with other Equestrians, for some reason I love his attitude. Combat would be a factor but I don't think it would be a focus of the story.
Besides that, I hope you enjoyed what could have been the first chapter of The Delinquent.